I was in Spain back in May for the Ubuntu Developers Summit. Being from the US and having US Cellular for a phone carrier, there was no way I was going to be able to use my cell phone to call home. This is where my N800 excelled. I used Gizmo and Googletalk to call home. Gizmo allowed me to call landlines (in other words when my family forgot to turn on the computer or didn't hear the "Googletalk ring") and Googletalk allowed me to more easily (could have done it with Gizmo too) call with my N800 to the computer. The hotel had wireless access...so I simply "called" home and talked to my family at length for little or no cost. As a frequent user of Skype on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X....Skype is my client of choice simply because it works pretty darn good and it is more widely used by folks all over the world. I like Gizmo and Googletalk (and SIP in general) , but Skype is easier in the sense that it's more universally accepted and used...as well as many people have actually heard of it. I'd like the option of being able to use any client I want. Choice is a good thing! :-)
With the right server set-up, E-ville, you could have a web device with a reasonable ability to spellcheck and 'enhance' text, as well as deal with Excel-like tables. PowerPoint would take a dedicated application even if it were possible, and I'm not sure it'd be reasonable to do so. Without a real keyboard or even official bluetooth keyboard support, I'm not sure these are really good choices, though -- typing anything past a certain length just isn't reasonable with the virtual stuff the n800 has.
I don't particularly see the need for Skype what with Gizmo providing most of the same services, but it's better to have the option in case any friends have only one (especially since Skype can't be provided by a third party).
I think the big draw for Skype is the user base they already have, and the $65 a year for unlimited outbound and a incoming real physical number, gizmo is great but Skype is a better deal overall..
As for a web based server side app.. yeah that works but what happens when your not online, or are you talking about running a small server on the tablet? That is what people are looking a off line solution like Open Office for the n800.. Just a better browser would allow us to use all the google apps.. but not offline.
As for resource intensive..could be.. but I remember running it on a 300 mhz P2 pack in the day it was slow to load but was usable, even if it was a simplified version, enough to make edits and save them.. create new files etc.. that's all we need. Maybe start with one of the first versions that were slimmed down a bit.. or one of the other clones of Open office.
*shrug*. I'm not sure I'd want to use a 770 or 800 for the 1,500 minutes at which you break even for the Skype deal, especially if you end up with a few connections as Gizmo All Calls Free ones, but to each their own.
In theory, scratchbox's PERL support would allow <i>most</i> of the necessary file management techniques for Excel spreadsheets, although making an offline spellchecker would be a pain with that technique. Perhaps using AbiWord would be viable...
I dunno, I'm only familar enough with Linux code to be really dangerous.
1500 minutes, thats at .02 a minute on gizmo, that is $30... but thats a year on skype for unlimited.. 1500 minutes a year isn't that much, it only 25 hours a year, when I'm on the road for work in a month I can go through 500 minutes in 3 weeks.. but in that situation I have wifi access.. I guess it really depends on how much you can replace your cell phone.. about 90% of my calls are in the presence of wifi.. Hotels, conference centers, office or at home.
Between the minutes on my cell and the long distance at home I easly will make up the $65 a year for Skype wth unlimited out and a skype in, and have it almost every i need it.
i don't have a cell phone, and i don't have a land line. i split the broadband bill with my roommates, and i use a wifi skype phone (netgear sph101) for all my calls. for 65/yr plus 10/mo for the internet, i save lots of money over having a cell phone. the netgear phone doesn't have a browser, so i can't log into many free/pay hotspots; that's why i want an n800 with skype. i can call my friends around the world as if they were in the same town, and if they use skype (most do) i can see when they're online and call them for free.
I think the big draw for Skype is the user base they already have, and the $65 a year for unlimited outbound and a incoming real physical number, gizmo is great but Skype is a better deal overall..
From my point of view these are exactly the points you could make against Skype:
With the Skype client, you are tied to their business model; there's no choice. $65/year may seem OK to you, but for me it would be ridiculously expensive in comparison. (I don't pay for a incoming physical number at all, for example - it's free.)
With Gizmo (or any other client based on open standards) I can switch to a new provider whenever I find one that offers cheaper rates and/or better quality. I can even use several providers at the same time, one for international calls, one for local calls etc. You can't do this with Skype. Skype is Skype is Skype - no choice here whatsoever.
Concerning the "user base": In fact, thats a drawback, too. It's beginning to form some kind of de-facto monopoly in the low-end mass market, which is bad (bad for the prices as well, btw). If I didn't care for such things, I'd have chosen a Windows-based system instead of my 770. - Yes, it's true that I know more people who have Skype than people who do VoIP via SIP-based clients. Still, if I want to call someone PC-to-PC or add him to my contacts permanently, it's very easy for them to download any SIP-based client they feel comfortable with (and they do, because they know I'd never touch Skype). In fact this is all that matters... I don't care for a worldwide user base as long as the people I actually want to talk to can be reached via SIP.
The main problem I have with Gizmo... the expiration of the credits being hard set at 180 days. So if you spend 10 or 20, nothing smaller... and don't use it all, you're out of luck in 6 months.
Also, Skype for me makes more sense because of the fact that I have amassed business contacts, friends and family on Skype for IM and other purposes. Gizmo... I have maybe two contacts. And I've been with them longer than Skype.
As far as SIP-based clients go on the 770/800, I've yet to locate one that allows me to use my established Voicestick account.
Skype has a lot of hype behind it, true enough. But it's an app that I actually use. Despite being a "node on their network"... I still have used it moreso than Gizmo.
